I thought the Emerald City was Seattle. Damned if I'm moving to The Other Washington! I hear their munchkins have cooties.Littlefield's theory has been hotly debated. He believed the characters could represent the personalities and themes of the late 1800s,with Dorothy embodying the everyman American spirit.
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"The Tin Woodman represents the industrial worker, the Scarecrow is the farmer and the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan."
Bryan was a Democratic presidential candidate who supported the silver cause. But he failed to win votes from eastern workers and lost the 1896 election. In the same way, the Lion's claws are nearly blunted by the Woodman's metallic shell.
The Wicked Witch of the West is associated with a variety of controversial personalities, chief among them the industrialist Mark Hanna, campaign manager to President William McKinley.
In this scenario, the yellow brick road symbolises the gold standard, the Emerald City becomes Washington DC and the Great Wizard characterises the president - and he is exposed as being less than truthful.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Apparently the theory has been around since the 60s, but I'd never heard of it before today. The Wizard of Oz may be a parable about the economic depression of the late 1800s, and the gold and silver standards.
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3 comments:
Yep, heard this before. This is also why the munchkins of the country (the proletariat) have the Lollipop Guild.
It's amazing how much people can read into a movie or book after the fact.
given this interpretation, what does the poppy field represent? i don't think there was an illegal drug trade back then.
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